Maratha Confederacy

The Maratha Confederacy was a network of Indian states led by Maratha rulers and chiefs, dominant in much of the Indian subcontinent during the eighteenth century.

Peshwa: The chief minister of the Maratha state, whose office became the confederacy’s leading political center. Peshwas coordinated campaigns and diplomacy while powerful chiefs retained their own territories.
Shivaji: The seventeenth-century Maratha ruler who founded a kingdom in western India and was crowned king in 1674. His kingdom supplied the political foundation later expanded by the confederacy.
Baji Rao I: A Peshwa who led rapid Maratha expansion across India from 1720 to 1740. His campaigns established Maratha influence far beyond the Deccan.
Third Battle of Panipat: The 1761 battle in which the Maratha army was defeated by Ahmad Shah Durrani’s forces near Panipat. The defeat halted northern expansion and transformed confederate politics.
Chauth: A levy, conventionally one-quarter of revenue, claimed by Maratha authorities from territories outside their direct rule. Its collection financed expansion and tied neighboring rulers to Maratha power.
Sambhaji: The second Chhatrapati of the Maratha state, who ruled from 1681 until his execution by the Mughals in 1689. His reign’s Mughal war shaped the succession and pressures inherited by later Maratha leaders.
Balaji Baji Rao: A Peshwa who led the Maratha state from 1740 to 1761, during its greatest territorial expansion. His administration and northern campaigns brought the confederacy to its height before Panipat.
Anglo-Maratha Wars: Three conflicts between the Maratha powers and the British East India Company, fought between 1775 and 1818. These wars progressively weakened the confederacy and ended its political independence.
Sardeshmukhi: An additional levy, conventionally one-tenth of revenue, claimed by Maratha authorities over certain territories. Collected alongside chauth, it extended the confederacy’s fiscal reach.
Tarabai: A Maratha queen who led resistance against the Mughal Empire and governed as regent in the early eighteenth century. Her regency preserved Maratha resistance amid a disputed succession.

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